Ability to 'explain in plain english' linked to proficiency in computer-based programming

By Laurie Murphy, Sue Fitzgerald, Raymond Lister, R. McCauley. 2012

65 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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Comparing Code Explanations Created by Students and Large Language Models (2023, background): “Explanations help students develop their understanding of how a code snippet executes [27], which can help students improve their reasoning about writing their own code [29].”
Benefits of Self-explanation in Introductory Programming (2015, background): “Research studies have shown strong correlations among the ability to trace programs, explain code in plain English, and write code in pencil-and-paper exams [25] as well as correlations between explanations of code and developing code on a computer in an exam situation [12].”
CodeAid: Evaluating a Classroom Deployment of an LLM-based Programming Assistant that Balances Student and Educator Needs (2024, unknown): “Accurate explanations of code are useful for students learning programming, and can help them improve their reasoning when writing their own code [45].”
Students Struggle to Explain Their Own Program Code (2021, background): “3456322 code (executing statements by hand and keeping record of the variable values) correlates with the student’s ability of writing similar program code themselves [11, 14].”
Experiences from Using Code Explanations Generated by Large Language Models in a Web Software Development E-Book (2022, background): “Explanations also help students improve their reasoning when writing their own code [26].”